


Gingerbread Promises

by Tatergattler



Category: SoulWorker (Video Game)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Spoilers, The boys are mentioned but don't make an appearance, tiny gay stella and supportive older sister haru are what I live for these days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 12:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tatergattler/pseuds/Tatergattler
Summary: A personal interpretation of how Stella handles the tail end of the Candus Arc.





	Gingerbread Promises

**Author's Note:**

> If you hadn't noticed already, uh, this is your last warning that this entire fic is based around a spoiler so...
> 
> If that doesn't bother you, then please note that the characters may be slightly ooc, as this is my personal interpretation of how they may behave around one another.
> 
> Cool? Cool.

Stella stared at the cloud filled sky of Candus City as she laid down upon a bench. That sky was the only constant these past few days. That, and fighting. Though now, she was more subdued.

A certain emerald eyed blonde girl was in the girl's mind's eye. Her shining smile and beautiful hair. She didn't know what about Catherine enraptured her so much, but now, none of it mattered anymore.

Catherine was dead.

Catherine was killed.

Catherine was killed by Stella herself.

Others insisted she had died the moment that bladed tentacle pierced the innocent Soul Forcer's heart, but Stella swore that wasn't the end. Until it was.

She remembered hearing Catherine utter to her, as she fought to reclaim her friend.  
'Please... Kill... Me...'

She remembered burning down the Dignity Taker that stole her friend from her down in a raging, sorrow filled blaze.

Everything else after that fateful fight atop the cargo carrier was a blur. It didn't matter.

Because of her, someone else had died.

What stung more, was that someone was her friend. Her closest friend she had made ever since she had woken up in this ruined world. The six other Soul Workers in her party had always felt far too distant, and Haru, who she considered herself closest to, was still a few years older than her.

Catherine was irreplaceable.

Blinking back tears, she curled up on the bench, trying to keep her composure.

Why did she care about that girl so much? They had only met a few days ago, but to Stella, she felt as if she was more than ready to spend the rest of her life with Catherine.

In just a few days of knowing her, Stella wanted to share a giant gingerbread house with Catherine, share deserts, play with dolls, cause a little harmless mischief maybe...

Stella felt like she knew what she felt towards her deceased friend, but she didn't want to admit it to herself, or to anyone.

Because Stella was hopelessly crushing on her.

The young guitarist had an idea on what exactly romance was, given her vauge memories of her less than happy school life.

It always involved one girl, and one boy, and the boy would do things, like take the girl out on dates, pull out her chair for her at the table, and maybe even kiss..! Though that was super taboo. She didn't figure a lot of people kissed until adulthood.

All of this was why she chose to hide her grieving from the rest of the Soul Worker party. She felt it would've been too obvious that Catherine's death had impacted her the most out of the seven. 

It did, of course, but she was terrified of being figured out, and being teased about her odd behavior, crushing on another girl like that. Especially after said girl was dead now.

She was terrified of being alone.

That she would be shunned, and exiled from the party, and left behind to fend for herself... She didn't want that! Not at all!

A gentle hand rested on Stella's shoulder, yanking her out of her horrible thoughts. She whipped her head around to see who just was invading her personal space, only to see Haru, sitting on the bench and looking down at her with a worried, concerned expression. Her face gave away that she had been crying too.

No words were exchanged, but after a few gestures, Stella sat up and clung to Haru before bawling loudly into the older girl's chest. Haru quietly hugged her back, resting her head atop Stella's head, her own tears starting to flow again.

The two didn't let go of each other until both had fallen asleep in each other's arms.

...

The party was packing up their stuff, bright and early in the morning. Later, they would be enroute to Grace City. Hot on the trail for one man.

Henry.

The name filled Stella with rage and sorrow, two feelings she had become upsettingly familiar with.

She shook her head, shoving away the sad thoughts for another time. She had something she needed to get off her chest. Not to the whole group, no, but to a particular sword wielding girl.

"Big sister Haru?" Stella gently tugged on the hem of the girl's white sweater, cueing her to turn around and smile gently down at her.

"Yes, Stella?" She asked. From across the room, both heard someone scoff.

"Haah? 'Big Sister'?" Lily, the twin tailed scythe wielding member of their team crossed her arms, huffing at the two of them. "Well, aren't you two close!"

"What, are you jealous?" Another girl piped up. The cannoneer Iris smirked at Lily's remark.

"N-no! Am not! I'm not jealous or anything like that, idiot! Don't get the wrong idea!" The reaper turned away from everyone, closing her eyes and letting out an exaggerated huff. 

"She's jealous." The quieter katana slinging Chii hummed, sharing Iris's smirk.

"Am not!!"

"Am too."

"You wanna fucking fight, you goddamn cat?!"

Iris chopped Lily on the head hard enough to shut down their argument instantly. "Oi, language, kid present. Chii, as fun as it is, don't provoke her in front of Stella."

"Stella and Haru left the room already, I don't see the problem." Chii responded simply.

Sure enough, the two aforementioned girls were no where to be seen.

"...Huh." Was all Iris could manage in reply.

...

The two girls sat atop a roof, looking down at the square that served as their operating base for their deployment at Candus.

"...Hard to believe we're already leaving..." Haru murmured softly. Stella only hummed, nodding along. "So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about, little sister?"

Stella fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, trying to think of what to say.

"U-uhmm... Promise me you won't laugh..?"

Haru's smile only softened.

"On my heart."

"You won't get mad at me either?"

"Okay, come on Stella, knowing you, next to nothing could get me mad at you."

Somehow, that didn't calm her nerves at all.

"...I-I uhhmm..."

"...Would you rather write it down? Sometimes that's a lot easier than saying it." Haru suggested, turning around and digging a notebook and pen out of her backpack. Stella immediately nodded, and reached out to receive the two items. "Now, I promise, I won't look until you tell me it's okay, alright?" She turned away to emphasize her intentions and consideration for Stella's privacy and trust.

A small hum came from the other girl, followed by the barely audible sounds of pen on paper. After a moment, Haru heard another hum from the musician, a tiny finger gently tapping her shoulder.

Turning around, Haru saw Stella holding up the notebook for her to read, hiding her face behind the thing as if it would keep her from getting spotted.

Scribbled in shaky, yet neat writing...

'I liked Catherine'

Haru blinked, slightly confused.

"We all did, Stella. She was an amazing girl, just like you... I'm... I'm sorry things turned out the way they did..."

Slightly lowering the book so her eyes peeked over, Stella shook her head and quickly underlined 'liked'

Haru's confusion only grew.

"Oh...uh...liked, as in you don't really like her anymore..?"

Stella's head shaking became more vigorous, adding two more underlines and a circle around 'liked'.

Haru only blinked, obviously lost.

The tiny guitarist let out a small huff before quickly drawing a heart next to Catherine's name.

Stella could almost see the lightbulb above Haru's head.

"I-It's okay if you don't like me anymore... I just... I needed to..."

"No, no, Stella..." Haru cut off the younger girl with a headshake and smile. "It's okay. Who you like and don't like doesn't matter to me. In fact, I'm sure it doesn't matter to anyone in our group... I mean, aside from the useless banter between Erwin and Jin, calling each other gay or what not in the heat of things, but if that bothers you, I can tell them to stop..."

Stella blinked. "You're... Not like... Grossed out..?" Haru laughed and shook her head.

"No, not at all. It's wonderful that you know who you are at such a young age, Stella. I'm so happy you can trust me enough to come out to me like this, I'm very proud of you, baby sister!" Haru laughed, wrapping Stella into a tight hug.

"Hey! I'm not a baby!! I'm!! 15!!!" The younger girl whined loudly, hiding her own giggling terribly.

After the two calmed down and separated, Stella looked up at Haru, and couldn't help but ask.

"Big sister Haru..?"

"Hm?"

"Who do you like..?"

"O-oh, uhh..." The swordswoman scratched the back of her neck, laughing softly. "I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure right now."

"You're not..?"

Haru shook her head, smile still on her face.

"Nnope, not at all. Sometimes, I find myself looking at handsome boys, and other times, I find some beautiful girls." Haru sighed, looking up at the sky. "Sometimes, I find beautiful boys, other times I find handsome girls... The world is just full of different people... Well, used to. I'm not too sure how much of humanity is left after 15 years of Armageddon..."

Stella stood quiet for a moment before piping up once more.

"Does it bother you..?"

"What, that I don't know who I like..?"

"Mmhmm."

"...I can't say it does, but at the same time, I can't say it doesn't." Haru sighed, then giggled, seeing Stella's scrunched up face in confusion.

"What the heck does that mean?"

"You'll figure it out eventually I think. You and Catherine always made a clever duo."

Stella's silence filled Haru with instant regret. She knew what was running through the other girl's mind.

"...Hey, you did all that you could... Please don't blame yourself.."

Stella simply closed her eyes and flopped back onto the building.

"I did all I could... I even managed to somehow reach deep inside and pull out even stronger power... Like a kind of Supernova or something... And... Even that wasn't enough..."

Haru didn't really have anything to say. She had just made it to the top of the cargo ship when Stella had struck down a long gone Catherine, the tiny child covered in purple flame, her eyes glowing with a violent nature, and even from where Haru was, she could literally feel the power radiating off of the guitarist. But her expression was nothing but sorrow, regret, and disbelief.

That scene was still emblazoned into Haru's mind.

"There you two are." Chii's voice pulled both of them back to the present, Haru turning around while Stella pointed her chin to the sky, looking upside down at the cat like fighter. "We're all packed up and ready go pig hunting. If you haven't, go say your goodbyes. I have a feeling none of us want to return to this ruined city for quite a while."

\----

Stella had only said farewell to Lieutenant Aaron, Brook, and Victor. They were the only ones she wanted to leave with a goodbye. Though, she idled next to Aaron for a while, staring at where Catherine would always be, smiling and radiating optimism as she exchanged playful banter with her father. 

She summoned her guitar, getting a mixed expression from the Lieutenant before she sat down right where her friend made her place, and started playing.

One, last, sorrowful goodbye to the one that mattered the most.

By the time she was done with her hymn, both her and the grieving father were wiping tears off of their faces.

Not much else was said between them besides a request for Stella to stay safe, and that she was more than welcome to return to Candus City at anytime.

She didn't have the heart to tell him she didn't plan on coming back. Not for a long while.

After all was said and done, Stella was the last to join the group at the checkpoint to District 6. Haru offered a soft smile and a hand to hold, which Stella took without hesitation.

Everyone clamored aboard the Helli waiting for them and strapped in as they took off into the sky. Stella looked out the cabin at the fading silhouette of Candus.

Haru gently squeezed her hand.

"...Goodbye...Catherine..."

**Author's Note:**

> Catherine deserved better


End file.
